The Mysterious Story of the WWII Ghost Bomber That Landed Itself

Many of the greatest air battles in history took place during World War II. There are also numerous unexplained sightings of anything from Foo Fighters to UFO’s that are still being debated. The story of the B-17 “Ghost Bomber” however, is inarguably unique.

The investigators, who were dying to finally board the inexplicable self-landing bomber, did not find the answers they were looking for onboard but found something they were not prepared for. You’ve never seen anything like this before!

Look Out!

On November 23, 1944, in an allied base in Cortonburg, Belgium, an event occurred which has not been completely understood to this day. An American B-17G appeared in the sky over the base and seemed to be heading right into three allied anti-aircraft gun positions. The crash seemed inevitable.

From the ground, the soldiers observed that the bomber’s landing gear was down and due to its erratic flying patterns, they assumed that the plane had suffered damage or that the crew had been injured. It was coming in hot, and all they could see was 35,000 pounds of metal heading right towards them. They fell to the ground and prepared for impact, all the while cursing the plane’s pilot.

The Wisdom Segment

I
Kenneth Albert Arnold was the first person ever to claim to have witnessed unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. He was an American pilot and businessman who became a public figure when he reported having seen nine oddly shaped objects in the air on June 24, 1947, near Mount Rainer, Washington.

II
Arnold described the floating figures as bat-wing shaped objects that moved similarly to that of a saucer that skipped across the water. He also stated that the unusual objects traveled at a speed beyond the capabilities of the most advanced aircraft of the time. The figures were seen over the Cascade Mountains of Washington.

III
The sighting incited mass speculation and media coverage. Based on Arnolds descriptions, someone coined the term flying saucers to refer to the unidentified objects. Ever since, people from all over the world shave reported unusual sightings in the sky. The US Air Force announced just two weeks after the incident that they discovered the wreckage of a flying disc near Roswell, New Mexico.

IV
In 1952, the term UFO came into use in consideration of unusual sightings not shaped like saucers. It has since become a common occurrence for people to claim to have sighted UFO. However, of the plethora of photos of UFOs that had surfaced during that time, most were considered fake.

V
Many critics have attempted to explain the sightings as mere mirages. Arnold's explanation was also deemed insufficiently persuasive, and the U.S Air Force officially deemed the case a 'mirage.' Regardless of whether the sighting was considered valid, however, Arnold rose to fame and became actively involved in investigating other alleged UFO sightings for ten years.

VI
Eventually, during the 1960s, Arnold grew tired of the attention from his UFO sighting and started to refuse interviews involving aliens. He did attend the First International UFO Congress in Chicago, though, a celebration hosted by Fate to mark the 30th year of the age of modern UFOs.